Digital Mind Games: Revelations
by gamings-reminiscence
Summary: Tai's life was good. Relatively. He was in one of the top soccer universities in the world, had good friends,good grades,life was good. Relatively. Now a dream will force him to lose the nice university and go back. Now for some digiworld fun! Relatively.
1. A New Beginning

**Hi! First off, how many of you were pissed off at the random MattxSora pairing in season 2? I for one most definitely was! So now I'm writing a sequel, sort of. Please enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I, gamings-reminiscence, in no way shape or form, own neither the Digimon franchise nor the characters and Digimon mentioned within it. This is written for fun and is just an idea that sprung into my mind at random!**

**Digital Mind Games: Revelations**

**Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

The University of California Los Angeles or as most would like to call it, UCLA. One of the top 3 Universities in the United States, as well as 13th in the Rankings for the 500 top Universities in the World, thousands of students with grade point averages ranging from 3.9 to 4.5 apply to this University from all across the globe. On average about a quarter of the applicants are accepted. Even among the accepted there are many who decline the invitation simply because of the staggering price of yearly tuition and board. So if one were to have a full time soccer scholarship to said University, room and board handsomely paid for, it would be safe to assume that one would be relatively ecstatic for such an opportunity. Well…

A tall, well built tan Japanese man drained his fourth Gatorade of the night, a towel covering the top half of his face while his bare shoulders heaved at every breathe. Half the men on the field, including him, were shirtless while the other half had their jerseys on. Off to the side laid a score card standing up right. On it said Shirts-39 Skins-40. Around him, several other young men were leaving the field, many of the younger faces limping away or slung over the arm of another equally exhausted player. UCLA was also known for their impressive sports program.

UCLA's athletic teams, the Bruins, have won 125 national championships, including 104 NCAA team championships as of 2009, which is more than any other university. Despite 92% of the school population coming from the United States, many of the soccer players were recruited, like the man, on a global level, and would eventually move on to a national team soon after graduating. There were countless examples of athletes graduating from this very campus and making it onto the global stage and achieving world renowned fame. At least, that's what the coach oh so colorfully explained to him the day he set foot on campus 4 years ago.

The Japanese man straightened up to his full 6 foot height and threw the rag off of his head, revealing a soaked mop of brown hair. With a small grunt, the man proceeded to perform a series of stretches to relieve his body of the after affects of that night's practice game. Of all the teams sponsored at UCLA, their soccer program was by far the most respected and revered, anyone on the team was already being scouted by teams after their first year playing, so the coach said.

After a few more slow exercises, the man made his way over to the dorm shower rooms, where the quiet sounds of running showers echoed off the walls and into the dark night. No words were exchanged, just a nod of heads, a quick shower, and off to the dorms for a well earned… all nighter finishing up that research paper due in, the man looked at the digital clock next to his bedside table, 12:30 am; 8 hours. With a sigh, the man threw himself onto the computer chair and proceeded to stare at his marvelously blank word document on the screen. He could still clearly remember the look his upper classmen had given him on his first all nighter and their all too encouraging words of "Welcome to College life! The Monsters and Rockstars are in the 'fridge."

* * *

A bright morning. The birds were chirping, the sun rose at just the right angle to notice the fresh dew on the tree leaves and from the dorms of the soccer team, came the peaceful sounds of… panic.

"Crap I overslept hella much!!"

"Did anyone finish their Humanities paper?!"

"Damn it, I didn't study for the exam yet!"

"Ahh I fell asleep!"

"Shut up! I don't have classes until 12!!"

"Screw it, I'm skipping the first few periods."

From the room on the second floor of the five story dormitory, the Japanese man was currently doing the happy dance with his finished paper. On the cover of his paper, it read in neat print, "The History of Political Science and the Effects of The Current Economic Stimulus, by Taichi Yagami Kamiya." After a quick change of clothes, the man practically pranced down the stairs after safely placing the 'sacred paper' in his backpack. He exited out of the building and breathed in the fresh morning air (A/N Don't you love how the world seems to be going right after a successful all nighter for a huge paper?)

Running a hand through his hair, he slipped on a pair of black aviators and followed the path to the nearest cafeteria. Inside, several students were grabbing their first meal of the day, and trying their best to not look like they either spent the night partying or working on homework due that morning. After grabbing six pieces of French toast, a cup of syrup, four strips of bacon, and a large glass of orange juice, he placed them on a pink tray and balanced it all on one hand as he searched the crowd for some familiar faces. On the upper floor near one of the balconies, Tai could clearly make out a fuzzy head of orange hair. With a goofy grin, he ran up the stairs to the second story, his long legs allowing him to skip three steps at a time. At the top, he greeted his sleepy friends, while still balancing his food, until he made it to one of the three balconies. In one of the chairs sat a lanky man around the same age as Tai typing away on a laptop while munching on a muffin. Tai was about to sneak up on the man until said man, without looking up from his work said, "Morning Tai. Please tell me you finished that paper."

Tai practically deflated and slipped into the chair next to him, "Yeah, stayed up all night to finish it though. How'd you know it was me?"

"First of all, it was more like START the paper last night. You wouldn't have known about it unless Caine told you about it. And second, you said hi to 12 people before even getting close to me."

With a bright grin, he dug his fork into a piece of French toast, "What can I say? Soccer keeps me busy."

Now it was the other man's turn to grin, "Yes, like it has been for four years now. Honestly Tai, how in the world did you manage to keep your grades up this long without getting a girl to do your work for you like you did as a Freshman?"

"Ouch, don't remind me. Naomi sounded like a smart name, so I figured she was smart enough!"

"Yeah, ignoring your naming prejudice, what you didn't expect was that she was just a junior in High School here for the Science camp."

"Haha…yeah… how's Mimi?"

"Venice has been pretty good to her. Wanna talk to her? She's on AIM."

"Naw I'm good, I don't wanna get hungry reading all the recipes she's cooking up."

Thankfully for Tai, his genius friend Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi had gotten into UCLA by his own power and was currently majoring in Computer Programming. Ever since his adventure in the Digital World, Izzy had been pursuing knowledge on the computerized sentient beings. His theory had originally been to alter the digital world to rid it of the virus digimon, but realized that like in most societies, there had to be a justifiable evil in order for many to follow a stable government, or in the Digital World's case, the four Sovereigns. Without a dark to balance the light, the programs would remain inactive until the very space the digital world resided in would collapse.

Although that was the reason he had told Tai for attending, Tai would teasingly say through their first year there that the real reason was to see a certain brunette digidestined. Izzy was already set on going to Tokyo University until Tai called him at the airport in Los Angeles. All it took was for him to say that Mimi would be attending through way of her modeling company, and Izzy was on a plane to L.A. His transcript was transferred over and for the short time before soccer season, he had roomed with Tai. He would spend countless nights staying up at odd hours helping Tai with his less than perfect English. As soon as his parents gave him his college fund, all it took was a two hour Socratic Discussion with the Dean and he was in. Since Mimi was already a renowned model in New York, there were many instances where Izzy lost the will to be more than just friends. It wasn't until their sophomore year that a New Year's party brought them together, and they've been inseparable ever since. Tai couldn't count the times he asked them to double date with him and a girl he met when he used to party constantly.

Mimi's influence on Izzy was obvious; he joked around more often and dressed much more fashionably. At the moment, he was dressed in a white undershirt with a black and orange flannel shirt left unbuttoned along with a pair of dark wash jeans. A pair of orange, grey, black, and white Nike Air Max Lights finished off his clothes (A/N Google it. The shoes exist if you don't believe me.) 'The man should definitely shop with Meems more often.' Tai shuddered at the over-sized orange button ups, green shorts and purple shoes he used to wear back in the day.

Mimi had probably changed the most. Not only had she calmed down considerably, she usually had no trouble keeping up conversation with Izzy for hours on his latest project, while Tai, who was working on a law degree as a back up, was left in the dust. 'A Smart Model' was the oxymoron Tai used to tease her with until she changed her occupational choice to foods. To the bliss, and sometimes pain, of Izzy, she fed him whatever she learned while interning with a Chef at a Art Institute. 9 times out of 10 they turned out delicious. The other time was well spent face first in the dorm toilets. Now that she was on a trip through Europe, Izzy wasn't sure whether he should miss her or tap her phone lines to see who she's talking to. 'The sap would probably do both.' Tai thought with a smile.

There was an amiable silence while Tai tore into his food until Izzy started, "You know, now that Thanksgiving break is coming up, me and Mimi were thinking of going to Shin-"

"Sorry Izzy, I gotta head to class to turn in the paper so I can get in a few more hours of sleep! Catch ya later!" With a smile, Tai ran picked up his things and ran off, sunglasses hiding both his eye bags and an emotion that Izzy knew all to well. 'He still hasn't gotten over it.' With a sigh, he closed up his laptop and walked down the stairs to his morning class. 'Tai, how long are you going to keep running from this?'

After Tai arrived to class and turned in his paper, he fished through his key filled pockets until he found his trusty iPhone. His parents gave it to him as a gift for surviving a year in a college halfway across the world. Izzy had tweaked it so that the voice recording application could span for more than a few hours and upped the quality of the sound. Not to mention that with every scroll of the screen, he could impersonate almost any digimon's voice stored in Izzy's laptop. April Fool's Days have never been the same for UCLA with those two around. After setting his phone to record, Tai, like any health respecting student who just spent all night working on a paper, slipped off his shades and walked to his desk. There, he pulled at the sleeves of his white thermal, crossed his arms, and fell asleep in them.

**Dream Sequence**

**Tai opens his eyes to a long corridor with a fork at the end. There, he sees two figures, standing on different ends of the forked corridor. The corridor where one stood suddenly catches on fire. A door behind the person opens yet he makes no move to go through. The person on the other side, completely unharmed, looks at him and he can hear a voice, but cannot make out the words "…" he moves towards the figure, again he hears a voice from that same person, words unclear, "…" He stops, already knowing what path he should take. Changing direction, he bolts into the fire, the smoke and flames obstructing his vision until the figure he was so desperately chasing after looks in his direction. The figure's eyes go wide, "…! …?!" Without a response, Tai tackles the man through the door but before Tai himself can go through, the door shuts itself. Pointlessly, he tries to pound at the door and throw his weight into it. It refuses to budge. Then the voice seeps through the fire. **

"**They won't come for you."**

"…" **Tai weakly pounds at the door, the smoke slowly shortening his breathing.**

"**The darkness is all that you have left."**

"**No…" He presses his fists into his ears, his back sliding against the door to the floor.**

"**He stole everything from you."**

"**Shut up…" He grits his teeth in frustration.**

"**You will be left alone."**

"**Shut up."**

"**You hate him don't you?" **

"**Who do I hate?!" He stands up.**

"**You want to kill him!"**

"NO I DON'T!!!" He breathed in deeply, glaring at the surprised professor at the front of the class.

"Mr. Kamiya, I understand that you would not want the judicial system to be left in the hands of a single party, but could you please leave your comments to yourself?" Embarrassed, Tai slowly sits back down, snickers and whispers going through the class. He pulled out a notebook and a pencil hoping that taking notes would help him forget about the dream he just had. But he couldn't stop one thought from coming out before he focused on the lesson, 'That voice…why did it sound… like Piedmon…"

* * *

For the rest of the day, Tai made a point to fall asleep at least once in his classes, but they were all met with the same dark but peaceful slumber that only seemed to last a few minutes. 'I should have tried to stay in the dream longer.' He thought while going to the library to study for midterms that were coming in up right before Thanksgiving Break. Caine, a goalie on the team, as well as his room mate had taken up Psychology as a major. He had once said that to continue a dream, once you're in the state between consciousness and reality, that pulling feeling you get once you wake up, you should stay in it by keeping your eyes shut and your breathing even. It's much easier to go back into the dream that way, since it takes a few days of consistent thought of that dream for it to reoccur in your sleep again.

To his luck, he found his friend Caine sleeping on the lap of an attractive woman on the couches in the lounge area of the library. With a smile, he walked up to the couple. She looked up from her book and noticed Tai walking towards them. Before she could say anything Tai raised a finger to his lips and sent a wink in her direction. She smiled flirtatiously at him and remained silent. Tai unrolled his earphones and stuck them into the jack of his iPhone. Casually scrolling through the songs, he kept stealing glances at the woman who more than happily smiled at each one, 'Ah college life. When classes kill you, your social life brings you back from the grave.' After picking the right song, he gently slipped one ear bud into Caine's visible ear and hit the play button. The bass could be heard from outside the buds as his friend jumped from the amused woman's lap, "GAH! HMM-SHI-THE FU- TAI! THE HELL WAS THAMMFF" Before they would get kicked out by the pissed off librarian, Tai slammed his palm into the goalie's mouth.

"Just a wake up call, nothing else can wake you up after all." Which was true. When they first moved in together, Tai, as well as the rest of the team would constantly be woken up at 6 in the morning to a loud rap song that repetitively said, '**WAKE THE F#$% UP! WAKE THE F#$% UP!!**' Needless to say, the team threatened to vote him off if he didn't either change the song or lower the volume.

Tai smiled at the woman who was trying her best not to laugh at Caine's stupefied expression, "Hey babe, could you give us a minute? Just need to talk to my friend about something." She smiled back, her voice coming out smooth as velvet, "Sure thing, see you at the party Caine" and walked away.

Caine spared a second to watch her walk away, Tai chuckling amusedly, "Well she knows how to flirt, but knows when she's going too far. She controlled her hips walking away, and all she did was smile at me. Plus she was reading Dante's _Inferno_. Smart, classy, and hot. Nice choice!"

Caine smiled stupidly as her figure turned the corner, "Yeah…you can't find a girl like that just anywhere."

"Hmmm yeah…" His mind wandered off to an orange haired tennis player somewhere far away. But then he remembered a blonde haired best friend and shook the thoughts away, 'Probably wasn't meant to be anyways'

The young Filipino man smoothed back his black spiked hair and looked at Tai with a frustrated expression, "So what did you want so badly that I needed to lose my pillow?" Tai, thrown out of his reverie, looked at Caine for a second as if he were trying to remember why he was there.

"Oh yeah, you like interpreting dreams right?"

"Yeah? Why do you ask?"

"Well I have a pretty weird one I want you to look at."

"Hey if it's a whacked out wet dream, I can't do anything like that! You'd need a girl for that!" Everyone within hearing range shot strange looks at the two athletes. Tai stared at Caine oddly before shoving him into a study room.

"What?! Why would I be having wet dreams? Girls aren't something I usually have problems with."

Caine pulled up a chair and flopped down. "Dude, I've been your room mate for almost four years now. I hear everything you shout out in your dreams."

"…Do you hear that often?"

"No, it's usually every few months or so."

"…Good."

"You say something?"

"Yeah, my dream's nothing like that. But," Tai went on to explain how he fell asleep in his first class, the corridors in his dream, and the realistic feel of the flames and smoke after running into the fire. Caine studied Tai's expressions while listening through his story, how his face softened at the mention of the mystery people, the worried look at the words he was able to make out in the dream, the calm expression when talking about rushing into the flames yet the look of longing still apparent on his face. That's what he loved so much about psychology, being able to take apart a person from the inside and rearranging them into a tangible, conclusive mindset. That and the completely lost looks he got from the soccer team whenever he talked about it. After Tai finished his dream, Caine rubbed the back of his neck, a tell-tale sign that he was thinking.

"Ok, most dreams don't usually use any senses besides sight, yet you had touch, hearing, and smell as well. Dreams that utilize more than one sense are called Lucid Dreams. I'm guessing that you weren't aware that you were dreaming right? Tai nodded at him.

"Most psychologists would put a client into sleep induced hypnosis. They are placed in a Lucid Dream when faced with a certain event, trauma, things like that. My assumption would be that your dream sticks more to home than you think. It all seemed very real to you because that is the reality you have placed yourself in.

"Now this is where things get complicated. Despite popular belief, there is no set definition for symbols that end up in dreams since each individual person has a different experience to be coupled with that specific symbol. For instance, imagine that you're in an empty street and you see a nameless figure running at you. Now to one person, it can be interpreted as a past trauma that had led to rape. Yet to one who has never experienced that, the man could be a metaphor to a mistake that literally caught up with them." Tai nodded, trying to take all of the info in.

"Ok, so what do I have to do to make it clearer?"

Caine beamed at the man, "Always the perceptive one. Without proper knowledge, I'd just be playing a guitar without the strings; it looks right from afar but in the end, no sound comes from it. So Tai, is there anyone in your life right now that would fit the bill of these mystery people?"

Tai, who was sitting on the edge of the study table, fingered his sunglasses with both hands. "I'm not sure who they were; their shapes were dark and blurred."

"Do you think you could know who they were?"

"Well they WERE talking to me."

"But you don't remember what they were saying."

"… No… but there was another voice that I COULD hear." Tai looked into the reflection of his sunglasses, the words coming to the surface, "You hate him don't you? You want to kill him!"

"That, my good sir, was your subconscious thought. In all dreams, the picture you see is what goes on in your mind. Everything in that dream was your own thoughts but Tai, everyone's got skeletons in their closet, no one's purely good or bad. Everyone has some shades of gray in them. Even so, it would seem that those two people hold a pretty close place in your heart. You were willing to throw yourself into the 'fire' to save that person. But it didn't sound like the person wanted saving, it ignored the exit. You had to force that person away."

"…yeah it's always been like that. I've always tried to push him in the right direction."

"So one of them is male."

"Yeah. Wait. No. I think it was…" Tai got off the edge of the table started pacing back and forth. Caine held a thoughtful look for a couple of minutes, as if debating whether he should say what he wanted to say. Tai noticed that look, "Bro, you got any ideas?"

"Yeah, but we just learned about it in class. Not sure if I should actually TRY it."

"Hey just call me the test monkey!"

Caine grinned at the metaphor, "Everyone on the team calls you that."

"Yeah, if I can do THAT stuff, then I can handle whatever you're cookin up there." Tai poked his forehead with a chuckle.

He shoved Tai's finger away, "Alright, I warned you; it's not my fault if it feels like you're on an acid trip."

"That's the spirit! So what you got planned?"

"Well, you know the therapy I was talking about? When psychologists put their clients into a Lucid Dream?"

"Yeah."

"Well it's called narrative therapy and we're gonna try it. It's going to be really shallow, so you can snap out of it whenever you want to. We're going to try and go back into your dream. Sound good?"

"Ooh. Sounds cool! I thought that was just the stuff in movies!" Tai's eyes lit up excitedly.

"Dude, how can you go from mature to childish without sounding even a little fake?"

"Years of experience, bro. So how we gonna do this?"

"Alright, first, help me close the blinds," Caine gestured to the glass that made up a wall of the study room, "then I want you to lie down on the table."

"Ooh, not trying to take advantage of me are you?"

"Tai, shut up." After all was said and done Tai was laying down on the table, face up. Caine had brought out a notebook and pen and was playing with a tape recorder of his own off to the side. "Ha, I've never really done this before, it's kinda weird. Alright, now recording the session with test monkey," Tai flipped him off, "…Tai Kamiya. Now, I want you to breathe in deep, slow intervals." He did as he was told, "Good, keep that rhythm, relax."

"That's what she said."

"Tai! No talking unless I say so."

"That's what-Sorry, I know, just a little nervous."

"Anyways, breathe in, breath out." There was a period of silence. "Ok, you should be feeling very relaxed now. I will count down to one, at one, you will fall asleep. 5. 4. 3. 2, and…1." Tai's head fell to the side, yet his breathing stayed consistent. "Tai, can you hear me?" Caine's voice questioned softly. "Yes." Tai breathed out.

"Good, now I want you to think back. Think back 8 hours ago. Think back to your dream during Political Science." Caine waited a few seconds, "Are you there Tai? What can you see?"

"Yes… I see… a corridor."

"Good, what's in the corridor?"

"A bunch of… doors… but they're locked."

"That's right. Keep going."

"I'm…I'm walking forward…and there's… a split… two… two corridors. There's… someone there… someone on both sides… they're just standing there. It's warm… there's… a bright light…a fire… on one side! Someone's still there! I need to stop it! I need to-"

"Tai! Calm down! If you panic too much, you'll wake up. Calm down. Calm…down." Tai's breathing, which had grown eratic, slowed down, until it returned back to its even state.

"Good… stay that way… we don't want to lose your progress. Now, what is happening?"

"…I'm walking towards the other person… it's saying something… it's saying…"

**(A/N if it isn't obvious already, a dream sequence will be in bold)**

"**Tai…" he moves towards the figure. It's image becomes clearer with each step; a woman, with orange shoulder length hair can be seen. She continues, "I'm sorry… I… love" He stops, already knowing what path he should take. Changing direction, he bolts into the fire, the smoke and flames obstructing his vision until the figure he was so desperately chasing after looks in his direction. A man, with dark blonde hair stares furiously at his figure, "You idiot! Don't you know it wasn't supposed to be me?!" Without a response, Tai tackles the man through the door but before Tai himself can go through, the door shuts itself. Pointlessly, he tries to pound at the door and throw his weight into it. The door refuses to budge. Then the voice seeps through the fire. **

"Tai? What are you doing?! Tai!!"

"**They won't come for you." He gets up.**

"Tai! You are going to wake up in-"

"**The darkness is all that you have left." He pushes back to the front of the corridor.**

"3."

"**He stole everything from you." He feels his way back until the smoke clears.**

"2."

"**You will be left alone." He turns to the other corridor. The man and woman are embracing each other, the woman's face buried into his shoulder. He feels himself smile.**

"1!" With a gasp, Tai opened his eyes to see him standing upright. Confused, he looked down to see Caine lightly grasping his arm. Turning around, he sees the table overturned and resting on the other side of the room. "Did I do that?"

"Yeah man, you did."

"Woah…"

"Right? So what happened to the other part of the dream?" Tai blinked trying to remember it.

"I'm pretty sure it ended."

"Ended? Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I guess. Why don't we save the interpreting for another time? We're attracting some attention." Tai turned back and noticed that the door was open, the librarian looking in curiously, "You two haven't been fighting in here have you?"

Tai grinned sheepishly as he ran a hand through his bushy hair, "No, nothing like that. Sorry ma'am." The librarian stared at him disbelievingly, but Tai just smiled at her. "All right, but put that table back in the center."

"Roger!"

After she had left, Caine sighed at him, "Man. I should've taped that! I hella would've gotten extra credit for it!" They shared a small laugh, "Well," Tai threw his arms up in a stretch and noticed he had something clutched in his hand, his cell phone oddly enough. He took a second to stare at the screen before pocketing it, "why don't we worry about the game next week instead of raising your A++?" Agreeing, they both hauled up the table and carried it to the center of the room.

"Anyways, so much for studying. Practice is starting up in a bit, why don't we grab something to eat and head off?" At the mention of food, Caine's eyes lit up.

"Hell yeah! And the price for my services can go to you paying for my food!"

"I GUESS! Just hurry up and find your car! I don't feel like walking." Caine nodded and ran out of the library.

"Hooo…" Tai ran a hand through his hair while reaching into the pocket of his jeans to pull out his iPhone. "Something's definitely going to happen." Instead of a black screen in sleep mode, the crest of courage shone brightly off of his phone's screen, "Let's just hope we're prepared for it." Tai stuffed the phone into his backpack and walked out of the library.

**Done!! Yay! That was long. I mean REALLY long. I know I should be working on Apolake's Rising, but I had an urge to watch Digimon and then I remembered how annoyed I was over the random MattXSora pairing! It seemed weird to me. Taiora all the way! Then I had a story in mind and a crossover to use so yeah, hear it is! I'm still thinking about the title though, it kind of sounds like someone had already thought of it so I might just change it.** **Now I'm working on two stories, I wonder if I can update a little more for both. Time will tell I suppose! **

**Until next time**

**-gamings-reminiscence **


	2. And So the Wheels Turn

**Hey fanfic world! Ok, I've decided that I'm going to try for at least one chapter a week for Mind Games and every other week for Apolake's Rising. I'm kinda suffering from writer's block on that one; I know where to go with it, I'm just not sure how it's going to work. Anyways, I'm glad people read the chapter, wasn't really expecting reviews on this one ^_^. But I digress, enjoy chapter 2!**

**Disclaimer: I. own. NOTHING. Seriously, if I did, do you think I would be writing fanfiction? Wait, I do own the plot though.**

**Chapter 2: And So the Wheels Turn**

Tai hated Izzy at the moment. Still in his soccer uniform, he trudged along the lamp post lit path, cursing the fact that Izzy just had to live in the dorm building four blocks away from his own dorm. Now most people would think that anyone could walk a few blocks, especially an athlete who spends a majority of his sport running around. Well, this would have been perfectly fine, if he had not just finished a soccer game an hour ago at a stadium on the other side of the campus. 'I really need a car.' Tai could only grumble as he jammed a pair of earphones into his ears. After Tai handed his phone to Izzy, the prodigy felt sympathetic and loaned him one of his older MP3's made from with his own designs. He would have loaned him a phone, but he had just sold his last model to Caine a few days ago.

At the very least, the trips to Izzy's place were never really bad since it usually allowed him to pass by the beautiful Kappa Beta Phi Sorority home, and he was not talking about the complex. Sadly though, his good fortune would become quite a problem for him.

"Hey Tai!" A fellow team mate shouted from the rooftop of the building, about to jump into the pool several feet below. Tai waved back amiably before he continued forward.

"Taichi! Taichi!" Caine hollered from inside the building. The woman from a week ago stood next to him, red Dixie cups in both their hands. Yet again, Tai shook his head and gestured to the building across the street.

"Great game tonight Tai! C'mon, party with us!" Now this part was the most painful for him to deny. A few women, all wearing over-sized Bruins jerseys, and not much else judging from the amount of leg shown, had exited the building and were waving at him like lunatics. Now, ever since Tai had been a freshman, he had had a special fondness for Kappa Beta Phi. It was at one of their parties where he had learned to better communicate with the opposite sex. It was one of their sisters who had asked HIM out for the first time. Hell, he even woke up to his first 'morning after' hang over at that very sorority, wearing only his boxers along with the words 'test monkey' spray painted all over his chest and back. Yes, Kappa Beta Phi had been good to him through the years. Even now, it was all too difficult to reject a party invite from them. 'I'll only be a few minutes, Izzy won't eve-' before Tai could continue that train of thought, his conscious fired back at him just as quickly, 'He has your iPhone'.

Now Tai was conflicted. What should he pick? Should he go to the many pretty women of Kappa Phi, or the endless amount of enjoyable applications not to mention the ability to use his phone after a week? 'Pick the phone.' His conscious droned on.

'But the ladies are asking for me.'

'Pick the phone.'

'But c'mon it's a victory party! We always go to those!'

'Since when do you refer to yourself as more than one person? Go Izzy's house. Now.'

'Bro, THEY'RE NOT WEARING ANYTHING!'

'Since when were you a swinemon? Phone!'

'Swine Flue? Wait, never mind. Hey! Who scored the winning goal during overtime?! I think that at least deserves a conscious free choice!'

'Do you even remember why you need to pick up your phone in the first place?'

"Hey Tai?" He was snapped out of his internal argument by the women who had called out to him earlier. A couple of them were giving him strange looks while the woman addressing him was trying to suppress a giggle. Tai took a moment to check out the woman in the front; Hazel eyes, tan complexion, nice long legs, and short dark hair, all aspects looked at in the span of two seconds (A/N Seriously, can any guy explain how that is even POSSIBLE?! All my guy friends just call it God's gift to men, but I'm still skeptical.) "Yeah?"

"You ARE aware that you just spent the past two minutes making faces at a lamp post, right?" True enough, when Tai faced forward he was face to face with one of the University lamp posts littered throughout the roads. With a chuckle, Tai turned back to face them, slightly pink with embarrassment, "Sorry about that ladies, had too much to drink, you know?" This comment seemed to peak their interest, "Well you do seemed flushed. Maybe you need to sit down." The woman at the front of the group took one of the ear buds out and whispered the words into his ear, the other women waiting on his response. Tai could not resist the urge to smile at the action. "You're right. Maybe I should take a break and be with you then?"

'Dear Azulongmon, is this man really my partner? Tai! You were going to Izzy's place to pick up your phone because he was looking at the CREST SHINING ON IT! Is this ringing any bells?' At this, Tai seemed to snap out of it and pull back from the woman's hand. "On second thought, I really need to be somewhere right now. How about I take a rain check?" The woman looked slightly disappointed but smiled none the less. "Alright, say hi to Meems and her boyfriend for me would you?"

They all flashed him a smile before walking back into the house. Near the front door, Caine waited, hand outstretched. With a huff, the entire group reached into their shorts pockets and each handed him a twenty. Caine, with his arm still over the woman, counted off the bills, "Pleasure doing business with you ladies."

As they went back to the party, the woman he was holding looked up at him, "How did you know? Tai was never known to reject a pretty girl before." Caine just sent her a cryptic smile, "A pretty girl? Never. But for a beautiful ex-love? Japanese super models could be offering him a massage and he'd say no. So Rita," he pocketed the bills and placed his Dixie cup on the ground ", let's ditch this party. How about I use this money to take you to a restaurant off campus? Their fettuccini is delicious." With a nod, the woman started to pack up and follow. Caine took this moment to steal a glance at Tai, the black number 10 on his back contrasting with the bright lights he walked under.

'So, it's THE Sora Takenouchi. Good luck pal.' He made a mental note to thank Izzy for naming the people in Tai's dream, offered his arm to Rita, and escorted her to the campus parking lot in search for his car. 'You're going to need it, if you're going up against THE Matt Ishida.'

As his car disappeared into the night, the same short haired woman appeared out of thin air and looked at the soccer player entering a dorm building. A menacing smirk adorned her beautiful features as she slowly followed.

* * *

"Stupid responsibility to the Digital World… stupid Crest of Courage…I wanted to party hardy… why did Izzy ask me to come NOW of all times…" Tai grumbled as he arrived to Izzy's dormitory. Since the building was so close to the Kappa Phi sorority complex, everyone in the building was either at their victory party, trying to study at one of the libraries, or sleeping at a friends place to avoid the sound. So it was not hard for Tai to recognize the only light that was still on as Izzy's.

'Don't be like that Tai! We might be able to meet up soon if what Tentomon is saying is right!'

"I must be a party addict; missing one is driving me CRAZY! Maybe I should go to those self-help meetings." He proceeded to talk to himself in a nervously high pitched voice, "Hi, I'm Taichi Kamiya and I party too hardy. I seem to have a voice in my head that flirts with me when not in contact with a female! I'm already getting to first base: Where my conscious wants to _meet up _with me!" Tai, becoming more and more amused at his own antics shouted to the ceiling, "BUT WHY MUST THE CONSCIOUS SOUND NOT FEMININE?! WHY?!?! I mean at least use a voice… that doesn't… sound… like… AGUMON?!" Tai seemed to spazz out as he turned around, frantically looking for his companion that he had not seen in 8 years.

'Tai, I'm not there! Check your ear!' Without any thought, he ran face first into the nearest mirror to check his ears for any digital infection or something like that. Ignoring the throbbing in his head, he touched the earphone still in his ear confusingly.

'See Tai? I'm using…device…contact…talk… Hey… STOP IT!' Tai, who had been pulling the earphone back and forth from his ear jumped, nearly dropping both earphones. "How'd you know I was doing that?"

'There's a security camera right behind you and I'm looking at the mirror.'

"O…k… I'm guessing Izzy has something to do with all this?"

'Well not really. Now go to his room so he can explain what's going on! We're in a little deep.' With a nod, Tai ran up to the elevator and punched in the number 4. The already slow elevator seemed much slower than usual to Tai; Agumon seemed to hear the music playing through the elevator speakers and the next 30 seconds were dedicated to the fire Digimon trying to sing along with Hannah Montana's 'Party in the USA' (A/N First, I don't own that song or the artist. Second, I won't deny it, the song is catchy, and I'm laughing at the mental image of Agumon in one of Hannah Montana's outfits and singing off key!)

"Agumon, hahaha… stop, haha stop, you're pfft, killing me!" Tai guffawed as he fell out of the elevator, hand clutching at his stomach.

'_So I put my HAAAANNDS UP THEY'RE PLAYIIINNGG MY SONG, AND THE BUTTERMON FLLLYY AWAYYYY!!!'_ At this point, Tai just stuffed the earphones back into his pocket. After taking a moment to compose himself, he slipped into the room closest to the elevator, a faded _PRODIGIOUS _sticker placed near the top. "Hey, Izzy I'm he-" Tai took a moment to stare at the couple currently on the bed, turned around and walked out the door, "Uhhh… I guess tell me when you're done?"

"Gah, Tai, this ISN'T what it looks like!"

"What isn't what what looks like now? I suffer from short term memory loss." He sent a sly smile at the flustered computer genius. "Seriously, Tai! This is all just a misunderstanding! Right Mimi?!" He looked desperately to his girlfriend who was casually buttoning up the large shirt she was wearing, "Of course Tai, what is there to say about a man and a woman alone in an empty building??" She fluttered her eyes innocently and sent a wink in Izzy's direction; if Izzy was not red before, he definitely was now. Tai smile only widened.

"So I'm guessing he was good?"

"HEY I'M STILL HERE YOU KNOW!!" Mimi chuckled and gave the uncomfortable Izzy a small peck on the cheek, "You know we were just kidding Kou-chan, you're just so much fun to rile up!"

"Yeah you know we love you the mostest!" Tai cooed as he pinched his other cheek. Izzy swatted him away with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Mimi's waist, "Why did I pick these two to be my best friends again?"

"Hey! Girlfriend by definition means best friend!"

"Well I DID basically hook you up with a model." Both answered simultaneously.

Izzy just sighed once again. The short period of silence gave Tai a chance to look at his surroundings. The layout was relatively simple: Full size bed in the center, a closet on one side of the room, a flat screen TV propped up on the wall near the foot of Izzy's bed, a table covered in textbooks, and a mini fridge right next to it. The room was surrounded by various speakers either lying on the floor or propped up on bookshelves. Various posters were scattered along his walls, more dominantly blown up album covers from the band, _The Wolves._ Izzy did not have a computer since he managed to turn the widescreen TV his parents had given him into a computer monitor. Add in a broken tower from Alienware turned mega processing unit, and he had transformed his dorm room into his old room in Japan. He even had a separate table for his yellow and white PiBook which was charging next to the bed. In one corner of the room, near Izzy's overflowing closet, lay four small handbags on top of five large bright pink suitcases.

After a few minutes of playing catch up with Mimi who had returned early at the mention of Tai's phone, Tai could not help but ask, "So… why were you guys like that if you weren't doing _THAT_?" He gestured to the two; when he first came in, all he saw was Mimi putting on one of Izzy's button ups and Izzy himself slipping on a black V-Neck while trying to stand up. Before the genius could answer, a nasally voice projected itself through the various speakers surrounding Izzy's room. "Well I must say that it is partially my fault, but this matter is quite urgent." From Izzy's TV/computer, a robotic red insect with large green eyes popped onto the screen.

"Hey Tento! What up-"

"I swear Tai, if you finish that sentence with 'mon' I'm posting your schizophrenic episode in the lounge on youtube."

"…bro?"

"Better."

"ANYWAYS, what Tento was about to say was that it was all a misunderstanding right?"

"Oh, yes, thanks Mimi! Now where was I? Oh yes! Well-

* * *

_Flashback _

_The bug type Digimon known as Tentomon was strolling down the main square of Primary Village. All was good in the world; no virus digimon to speak of, the firewalls were intact, bright clear skies, and a fresh batch of digicookies to devour back at the main base,_

"Wait, you have a base? And more than one base?"

"Tai, it is rude to interrupt my story, PUNISHMENT! Uploading video, **Epic Spazz**, onto youtube(.)com, under profile kingTai01."

"Wait a sec! You can have my rhapsody membership!"

"That would be appropriate. Anyways-"

_Tentomon was just heading back to base when a thunderous earthquake shook the town, leaving spaces of static scattered around town. Several Digimon had appeared and were scavenging the village for any significant losses. "The north and south east quadrants are safe, but the digi eggs…two thirds of them have been turned into corrupt data, we need a deletion team over there soon!"_

"_Main Square has become a scrap heap! It's practically blank space…"_

"_The weird fuzzy space seems dangerous! Only the DBI are allowed to inspect them!"_

"DBI?"

"The Digital Bureau of Investigation."

"Explains the base at least."

_A small pink and blue bird broke free from the crowd surrounding the bug digimon, "Tentomon! Come quickly! It's Agumon and Palmon! Something's wrong with them!"_

_Both Digimon made a beeline to the entrance of the village. At the far end of the plain lay a small dinosaur digimon and a cactus digimon of the same type glaring at each other. Tentomon tried to approach but Biyomon pulled him back, "No look closer!" Upon closer inspection, Tentomon noticed that the two were in fact, frozen in place, the perimeter around them turned black and white. The moment he noticed this, he tried to step back, but was unable to move; one foot had entered the black and white space and was quickly spreading through his body. Before he had time to scream out, his vision went black.

* * *

_

"And the next thing I knew, I was on the internet a week later. I tried to get back on to the Digiworld server, but my access was denied by an unknown I did some net surfing and I found the IP address of Stanford's internet connection. Next thing I know, I show up on Izzy's TV screen and he's screaming like a little girl after Mimi spilled something on him." This earned a chuckle and a glare from Mimi and Izzy respectively. Tai spoke out before the need to tease the genius, followed by very probable video upload, came out,

"Wait, that doesn't explain why, YOU'RE wearing one of his shirts Meems."

"Well," The brunnette shrugged, "I knew you'd be coming up and wanted to see the reaction." Tai could only laugh.

"I have taught you well young Padawan. Anyways," He turned to the Digimon on the screen, "what you're saying is that the static space kicked you, Agumon, and Palmon out of the Digiworld indefinitely?"

Tentomon scratched at one of his antennas, "Well, actually, all the originals were kicked out. I tried a scan to find Agumon and Palmon but instead found all eight of us floating on various electrical connections. I have already contacted the other Digimon and we have all decided to go to our respective partners."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Now, there are many variations of silence. There is the comfortable silence that usually comes after a friendly conversation, a laugh at a good joke, anything that comes after something previously comfortable. There is the awkward silence, the kind of silence after one tries to start up conversations that usually fall flat after the first response or when you have witnessed something so awkward that the words just will not come out naturally. Then there is the tense silence. The kind of silence when you either know that something terrible is going to happen, or when something wrong has happened but no one wishes to address it. The silence following Tentomon's statement was neither comfortable nor awkward. All of the Digidestined in the room knew that something was wrong, but could not admit it out loud. It was one thing for the Digimon to be locked out of the D-Server; another Digidestined could have set up the firewall and botched the programming, but that only explained the firewalls. The static distortions just happened to appear at the literal birthplace of Digimon and attempted to corrupt all of the unborn Digimon. It was too convenient to be a mistake. Everyone knew it had to be the work of another force and no one enjoyed the implications that followed.

With a sigh, Tai walked over to Izzy's table to pick up his Crest free iPhone, "So," he ran a hand through his mass of brown hair, "when should I start packing?" While Izzy went to work purchasing plane tickets, Mimi made a similar gesture, "Here we go again…"

**Done! It be short but it is what it is! This was supposed to be posted on Saturday but the hotel I was staying at for the weekend had a weak net signal… but that can't really explain why I didn't post it on Tuesday huh… ah well it's here and that's all that matters! Oh yeah, and to the Sorato fans, I like the pairing, I really do, I just like Taiora MORE. So if you don't like the pairing, don't read my fic. Simple as that. Just pass this story up and read a Sorato fic.**

**Until next time**

**-gamings-reminiscence**


	3. Mission Distraction

**Nothing much to say for this one except thanks XtremeGal87, dbzgtfan2004, and Koumiloccness for the reviews! Makes me happy that it does. Yes, I tried to imagine what they would be like during their college days and couldn't imagine Tai ever being overly serious when he didn't have to be. But if the characters are too OOC don't hesitate on calling me out on it. Now, onto chapter 3!

* * *

**

**Chapter 3: Mission Distraction**

"How long is the plane ride to Tokyo from there?"

"About 12 hours." Tai threw off his jersey and ran over to his closet, cell phone pressed into the space between his shoulder bone and his ear.

"And Mimi and Izzy are coming too?"

"That's right." He sniffed at one of his thermals, shrugged and quickly slipped it on.

"Don't you still have classes for another week?"

"Izzy's got it covered." He threw on another long sleeve and started rummaging through his closet, tossing whatever looked reasonably clean into the suitcase lying open on his bed.

"You're leaving tonight and-"

"I want you to pick us up. Yes sis, you don't need to repeat what I'm saying." He was about to throw in a dark blue army hoodie, but decided to wear that as well.

"I just wanna make sure I'm not dreaming this up. I mean THE Taichi Yagami Kamiya is gracing Japan with his presence after a four year absence."

"Hey, I can hear the sarcasm! Besides, this is a little important!" He found his black blazer and put it on over his hoodie. Satisfied, he ran into his bathroom and tossed his toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant into a plastic bag.

"Oh so you only show up for important things?! What about Christmas?! Thanksgiving?! All we ever get from you is a call or the occasional email!! Dammit Tai did you even think about what it was like for us in the years that you were gone?! We MISSED YOU, you jackass!!" The voice on the other end was starting to breathe heavily into the phone and Tai could practically feel the glare through the phone.

"But-"

"But NOTHING! You know how it feels to learn of how great your brother's doing through television broadcasts? Watch all his games on the TV and never on the sidelines?! It's freaking ALIENATING!!"

"…You watch my games?" The line went quiet for a few moments.

"…Maybe…" Tai sighed and exited the bathroom, toiletries and bath stuff in his arms.

"Hey, Hika, I'm sorry. I know it was probably tough for you and everyone else alright? You can't be that mad at me, can you?" He sat down on his bed, a forlorn look adorning his features. A sigh was heard on from the other end.

"No, I'm not really that mad. It's just four years of pent up frustration coming out. It was hard the first year, you know?" The voice on the other end sounded forced.

"Well, if that's just from the first year, I won't be able to keep up with Izzy's time table if I listen to all of it. So tell me when I get there, ok squirt?" His voice as well as his facial features had softened at this point, all packing stopped so that he could wait for her response.

"…ok… but I swear, if you get terrorists to stop the plane just so you won't have to face me, you will regret it! You're going to wish they crashed it instead of let you live!" The voice, aside from the occasional sniff, had returned to it's teasing tone.

"Damn, now I have to call back Terrorist J." He heard a laugh from the other side and chuckled as well.

"Tai!"

"I know, I know. I'll see you there. And Kari?" He zipped up his suitcase and pulled it onto the floor.

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

"Love you too, idiot brother." Then the line went dead.

Tai let out a deep breathe and slid down the wall his suitcase rested on. "One conversation down, three more to go AT LEAST. Well probably three and a half since she wasn't done talking to me." He bolted up from his position and thrusts open his door, suitcase at his side. What he was hoping to be a dramatic exit was ruined by the surprised face of his roommate Caine.

"Woah, what are you doing here? Hey, weren't you supposed to be with Rita right now?" Caine shrugged and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"I could be asking you the same thing and I already dropped her off." Tai cast him a knowing look and whistled.

"Huh, no spending the night with her? You must really like her." The goalie turned his face to the side and scratched his cheek.

"Well, I don't hate her."

"Good for you man. Well I'm in a hurry so I'll talk with you later."

"Japan right? I heard all about it from Izzy. Tai!" Tai, continued walking down the hall but still answered,

"Yeah?"

"You should try it some time. Liking a girl." Tai hit the call button for the elevator and turned to him, looking genuinely confused.

"What are you talking about? I only ask out girls I like."

"That's not what I mean and you know it." The elevator came up and he stepped through, his expression going from confused to almost melancholic.

"Well, I've tried that already and you know what?"

"What?" The doors were about to close.

"It f#$ing sucks!" (A/N Not sure how much the T rating allows me to say, so use your imagination. You can't blame me if you think of a 'bad' word :D) And he was gone. Caine smiled from the doorway of their room and walked in.

"3." He rummaged through Tai's closet and picked up a pair of pants.

"2." As he walked back to the door, he heard the ping of the elevator.

"1." He stretched his hand out the door and felt a hand grab for the pants followed by a quick thanks. The goalie smiled at the sound of Tai's unbalanced foot steps, most likely trying to put them on while running. The room, now his for the remaining week before break seemed almost lonely. Almost as if he would miss his fellow star player. Like his departure would make the dorm deathly silent.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU NEED TO LEAVE?!?! WHAT ABOUT PRELIMS?? SANTOS, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!" Caine, who was wishing his last name wasn't Santos at the moment, sighed and jumped through the window of their dorm onto the surrounding trees hoping to avoid their coach's wrath for at least one more night.

* * *

"Tai! You're- wait why're you holding your soccer shorts?"

"Why AREN'T you holding soccer shorts?"

"…Yeahhhh, let's just head to the airport, our flights leaving in an hour." Tai clambered out of the campus, luggage tipping precariously from wheel to wheel. Izzy and Mimi were waiting outside, both dressed in similar warm attire; Izzy in a black pea coat with a red scarf and Mimi in a gray knee high trench coat and a pink beret.

"Yeah let's go! Wait, Meems why are you wearing leggings?" With a giggle, Mimi lifted up the bottom of her trench, revealing a matching pink mini skirt, catching the eye of several passing men.

"For my skirt! This weather's nothing compared to weather in _Venezia_." She emphasized Venezia (Venice) with an Italian accent. Tai looked to Izzy, who had appeared behind Mimi and wrapped his arms around her protectively while shooting glares at the ogling group.

"Yeah, sure. That's why you're wearing that. Totally believable." Mimi flashed him a smirk before leaning her head against the computer genius's shoulder. Izzy, oblivious to their exchange, was locked in a staring contest with the group until they were too far away to maintain eye contact with. He blinked to ease his eyes from the strain before turning back to Tai.

"Let's bring your stuff over to Mimi's car." Tai's eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of Mimi's company-bought Porsche.

"That's what I'm talking about! I call-" Mimi glared at him.

"You're not driving! It's my baby and I wanna drive her before we leave for who knows how long." Tai deflated and picked up his bags with a pout.

"Man… can you at least hit 120 like you did last time?" The brunette looked to her boyfriend who nodded his head with a smile.

"Alright, I'll get to the airport by the end of the first song on the radio!" Izzy, although having agreed for the sake of punctuality, cringed at the designated time.

"Wait, but the airport's 20 miles away! And it's rush hour! You know, we don't have to get there THAT early. Guys?" But his request fell upon deaf ears, as his fellow digidestined casually walked to Mimi's bright red Porsche Cayman S. "I'm gonna die…"

* * *

The tennis court had long since been covered in the shadows of an early sunset. Yet that did not deter the two women caught up in a heated match. The tennis ball was smashed against worn down rackets with a grunt as it was launched back and forth. Off to the side, a man with brown ruffled hair and sunglasses watched in deep concentration. After what seemed like hours of returns from both sides, the red head slices down on the ball. Recognizing this movement, the brunette runs from her position on the baseline to the front, knowing that the ball will spin back wards due to the added spin given through the downward hit. Just as she predicted, the ball bounced toward the net and she sent a fierce groundstroke back to the opposite side.

But the red head had planned for this, and with a powerful backswing, she sent it bolting back to the base line farthest away from the brunette. In a last ditch attempt to save the rally, the brunette dove for the ball, racket outstretched. By some miracle, the ball landed dead center. The force of the previous shot caused the ball to ricochet off of her racket and make it's way back to the other side just before she crashed into the ground. But that only prolonged the inevitable; as the ball made it's way over the net, it fell short. Clipping the net, the ball flew high up into the air, well within the reach of the red head's raised racket. With a resounding crash and a final yell of exertion, the red head brought her racket down and sent the ball crashing into the opposite court with a powerful smash. The other woman, who had just risen to her feet, could only watch as the ball bounced once and flew right past her.

"Game-Set-Match! Score, 6-4 Sora Takenouchi!" The brunette gave a defeated sigh before meeting up with the red head to shake hands. Sora Takenouchi, completely exhausted yet satisfied returned the handshake with a humble smile before walking to the man in the sunglasses. As she approached, he flashed a small, yet tender smile before he enveloped her in his arms. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just embracing the other's presence, before he whispered in her ear, "You stink." She gave him a mock glare before punching him in the arm.

"You're really romantic, you know that?" He gave her a charming smile.

"I know, now hurry up and get cleaned up, we need to celebrate your," He did a mock count in his head, "1 millionth win?"

"Matt, you should know by now that it's the 1,004,583rd win." The man, Matt, rolled his eyes.

"I'm _soooo_ sorry."

"That's right. Now wait here, I'll be out in the few. Oh and," she leaned into him and whispered into his ear, "adjust the wig. I can see some blonde." With a small wave, she went into the locker rooms to clean up.

15 minutes later, Sora emerged, clad in a white camisole with a pinstripe blazer hoodie on top, dark fade skinny jeans, and the same pair of black and white Adidas shoes she was playing in earlier. The man looked at her attire with a raised eyebrow, "You're not cold?" She responded with a small shrug.

"I'm still warm from the match. Besides, your car's always really warm."

Matt, who was wearing a gray cashmere sweater with the sleeves of a red long sleeve poking out from the sweater sleeves and a pair of gray earmuffs, looked skeptical, "You really have a thing for cold weather huh?" She only smiled and pulled him along by the sleeve of his sweater. As soon as they made it to Matt's black Range Rover, Sora's cell phone went off. She pressed the answer button on the screen and before she had a chance to talk, a voice bellowed from the other side, "LEARN HOW TO DRIVE MORON!!" Slightly shocked, Sora spoke into the speaker, voice laced with confusion.

"Uhh, TK?" The next voice on the line was more feminine and, to Sora's relief, calm.

"Sorry, that's just TK. We're kind of on the road right now." The voice from before continued in the background.

"Oh god, HEY! THIS IS THE FAST LANE!! IF YOU WANNA GO 30, CHANGE LANES, ASSHOLE!!" Sora cringed at TK's obvious road rage.

"Hey Kari! It's alright. Road rage seems to be the Ishida curse," Matt was about to prove her wrong, but after a few seconds of thought, nodded his head in agreement. "where are you going?"

"Well, that's the problem, I was supposed to pick up… some friends of mine and we got caught up in traffic. We'd probably be late by an HOUR at least, so could you pick them up for me?" Sora was curious about the pause in her explanation, but shook it off.

"Sure, it's the airport in Tokyo, right?"

"Right!"

"WANNA FLIP ME OFF?! BITE ME, ASS WIPE!"

"TK! SHUT UP! Sora's gonna handle it." At this, the voice seemed suddenly more cheerful.

"Oh, really? Hey thanks Sor! How'd your game go?"

"TK, you're still driving! Ask her about it later!" Sora couldn't help but chuckle and Matt leaned over to the passenger seat to speak on the phone.

"Hey bro, we can't have Japan's number one college point guard end up in jail right?" TK chuckled at the compliment and had calmed down considerably.

"I guess, but then the lead singer of a popular band could always bail me out.

"Well, you DID just get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Maybe some payment would be in order?"

"HEY! No more talky. More drivey! Get going! Their plane's arriving in half an hour!" Sora smiled at the anxious voice.

"Hey, what's the rush? Me and Matt are WAY too close to not get there in 10." The voice on the other end seemed a little uncertain.

"Well, it's just that I haven't seen one of them in awhile and I'm a little excited."

"Ooh, does TK have some competition?" There was a laugh at the other end.

"Oh he doesn't have to worry. We share a different kind of relationship. Now go! You'll probably find them easy enough; they aren't hard to miss." Curious about the mystery group, Sora said goodbye to Kari and helped direct Matt to the Tokyo airport. What they did not notice were the cars trailing them, filled with reporters who saw through the disguise of lead vocal and guitarist Yamato "Matt" Ishida of _The Wolves_. Already they were making assumptions about the red head he was cuddling with just moments ago.

* * *

"Ahh,it sure is good to be back!" Tai stretched, and looked around the large airport, happy to be in a majority of people who shared his culture. For the first time in awhile, he thanked someone in Japanese! He got a call from Kari as soon as he got off and she told him to expect someone else to be picking them up. When he had asked her who was picking them up, she just responded with, "Some friends of mine." Shaking off the foreboding feeling that came from those words, he pulled his hood over his head to avoid recognition as Mimi rolled her eyes at his statement before slipping on her sunglasses as well.

"Coming from the one who waited for every last person to leave the cabin before you actually did."

"Hey! It's not my fault the stewardess knew who I was! She wanted an autograph. Oh and pay up." He extended his hand to the confused Digidestined.

"Come again?"

"Remember our bet? You said you could get us to the airport after one song and it took three!" Mimi, now remembering the wager, grudgingly handed him a five.

"Stupid cops mean mugging people to slow down." Izzy appeared behind her carrying two suitcases, a large duffel bag, and his laptop bag.

"Be glad he didn't give you a ticket for lane hopping and just watched as you flew by at 30 miles over the speed limit." Tai helped the struggling computer genius with the bags.

"But it was only 30 over! So where's my stuff Iz?" Izzy shrugged casually.

"You expected me to carry your stuff AND Mimi's?"

"Maybe?" Izzy rolled his eyes and directed him to the luggage belt.

As Izzy and Mimi talked casually behind him, Tai looked at the passing luggage, waiting for a black rolling suitcase with an Agumon sticker on the front. After a few minutes of waiting, nothing showed up.

"Izzy, are you sure this is the right one?" Izzy stepped back to look at the plane number on top and nodded. Tai looked around until he heard a familiar voice on the other side of the belt.

"Airi, that's not my suitcase! Put it back on the belt." A boy no older than 10 was clutching Tai's suitcase protectively.

"Nee-Chan! I want one! The dinosaur looks really cool!" A tall, yet petite woman with short dark layered hair sighed and kneeled down to meet the boy's eyes.

"Then we'll ask the person where they got it from ok? Now put it back!" Mimi, who recognized the voice and walked up to the two people,

"Is that you Mia?!" The woman turned back and smiled at the approaching brunette.

"Mimi?! Hey! What are you doing here?" They embraced before Mimi pulled back at arms length.

"I could be asking you the same thing! Shouldn't you still be in the US?" The other woman just shrugged and glanced at the two people behind Mimi, more specifically Tai.

"Well, some family stuff came up and I needed to be here. But I admit that I've never really been outside of the Okinawa prefecture before." Tai, who recognized her as the woman who had flirted with him the day before took the initiative and walked up to her.

"Hey! Than maybe I can show you some of the sights sometime." Izzy rolled his eyes at the mention of 'I' instead of 'we'. The woman smiled at his offer while the younger boy stared longingly at the sticker on his suitcase.

"Sure, if you give me one thing." Tai smiled preparing to give her his number.

"That would be?"

"That sticker on your suitcase. Airi here seems to really like it." Tai, surprised at the suggestion, grinned at the little kid and peeled the sticker off of his suitcase.

"Here you go. Now about that-" He was cut off by paparazzi pushing past him and heading to the nearest exit.

"What's that about?" Mia looked at the group of people collecting around a couple in the front.

"Probably a celebrity couple or something. Actually, I'm surprised they just rushed past you and Mimi; what could beat a famous soccer player and super model?" Izzy recognized the people caught up in the center and grimaced.

"How about a rock star with an unknown tennis player?"

"Matt?"

"Sora?" The two other Digidestined questioned simultaneously. Izzy nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, and I think they're supposed to be the ones to pick us up." Tai cringed slightly and sighed.

"They WOULD walk around in the open wouldn't they? Mia, I think I'm gonna have to give you a rain check on that tour." Mia giggled slightly and pushed up one of his jacket sleeves to reveal his muscled forearm, pen grasped in her available hand.

"I guess I'll have to. Just give me a call when you're available."

After she wrote her number on his arm, she took Airi's hand and walked off. Tai took a second to watch her retreating figure before turning to the other two and carefully rolling down his sleeve.

"So are you gonna be the distraction Meems or will it be me?" Izzy shook his head and gestured to the couple flanked by camera flashes.

"To beat a new couple, we fight with a new couple. Sorry love but," Before either of them could react, Izzy tore off Tai's hood with one hand and Mimi's glasses with the other. In a shocked voice, he jumped back and screamed out.

"OH MY GOD! IS THAT TAICHI KAMIYA AND MIMI TACHIKAWA **TOGETHER?!**" This got everyone's attention, including the press. Before Mimi and Tai could glare at the smiling genius, the two were covered in press.

"Mr. Kamiya, what are you doing here before pre-lims?!"

"Ms. Tachikawa, since when have you been in a relationship with Tai?!"

"Could we get a picture of you two? _FLASH_ Thanks!"

"Do you plan on going steady?!"

"Tai!! We love you!!"

"Mimi! Marry me!!" Both comments came from a group of teenagers in the back.

After awhile, Tai and Mimi yelled simultaneously, "NO COMMENT!" and pushed their way out of the crowd and bolted farther into the airport. The shocked media could only shrug and turn back to the other couple they were 'interviewing'. But to their disappointment, not only was the couple gone, but the man who had identified the soccer star and model had disappeared as well.

"Kamiya and Tachikawa are still in the airport! Search!" And the paparazzi spread out within the building, hoping for a new story.

* * *

Tai and Mimi, who had run to the other side of the airport, were catching their breath in a parking lot.

"I'm…killing him…" Tai, who had caught his breath much faster, responded,

"No way. I called dibs on him first."Mimi straightened up and looked back at him.

"Since when?" Tai smiled.

"Since I called it in my head." Mimi rolled her eyes. After a few moments of silence, they saw a black Range Rover screech past a corner and stop right in front of them. Thinking that they were some desperate reporters, Tai and Mimi tried to run back into the complex. The side door opened and Izzy popped out and yelled for them to hop in. After they clambered in, their feet collided with their bags and they stumbled into their seats. It was silent until they reached the freeway and the red head in the front turned to Tai with a glare.

"Tai." The aforementioned Digidestined gulped and smiled at the two in the front.

"Umm… hey Sor, hey Matt. I kind of need to explain myself, don't I?" Matt, who still kept his eyes on the road answered,

"Oh you have NO idea." Mimi gave Tai a small pat on the shoulder as his figure slumped farther into his seat.

* * *

**Done! Did you like it? I'm trying to make the out of Digiworld chapters as entertaining as possible since I'm only going to have about two more. Then, it gets a little intense. Look forward to it! I feel like this should be a filler chapter even though it's not really one. Give me some feed back on it if you can! So until then**

**-gamings-reminiscence **


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